Desperate...Help...HP 9-track drive...

From: John Lawson <jpl15_at_netcom.com>
Date: Thu Oct 14 00:05:52 1999

  Disconnect the interface cables and see if she'll load up
standalone. Also, Mark Green has a Very Good bit of advice as well.
(hint: is there a BOT reflector on the tape? I had to take apart my
Cipher 880 and dredge the tape out by hand because the BOT marker
had fallen off and the drive became disoriented...)

  Computer Collector Rant Follows:

  One of the things I like the least about my collection of Olde
Iron, is the amount of time I seem to have to spend
diagnosing/repairing vs. enjoying the system. I am a BSEE, and have
spent a good deal of my career fixing broken things, and I've paid
some dues as a programmer and systems analyst, too... but it's
seldom I turn on a system that it doesn't woof it's cookies and go
casters up on me.

  Now: don't get me wrong, I accept the responsibility of being my
own Field Droid, and I certainly appreciate the quantum measures of
understanding I get when I finally track down and solve the latest
failure, but Slippery Slivers of Silicon, Batman!!! can't we just
turn the thing on and *play* with it, sans frequent crises?????

  Question:

  Do those of you with large functioning DEC systems go thru this
crap as much as I seem to? Maybe I'm just Overly Whiny....


  Sigh. But I *do* love these big old whirring racks o' Stuff!

 
   Cheers

John
Received on Thu Oct 14 1999 - 00:05:52 BST